Agenda item

Report of the Constitution Working Group

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services introduced the report which had been circulated with the agenda.  He explained that there had been an aim across the four authorities in the GO project to agree a common set of financial rules which would be a cheaper and more effective approach.  He commended officers for the great job they had done in achieving this.  He highlighted the reference to the strategic cross party member working group in paragraph 4.4.  The consideration of the best way to scrutinise commissioning was now part of the scrutiny review and likewise the review of the overall commissioning plan was being carried out by the group leaders on a regular basis.  Therefore he considered the strategic cross party member working group had done its job and could now be disbanded. He indicated that Cabinet portfolios in appendix 2.2 were slightly out of date and these would be amended and all members made aware.

A member suggested that the designations of Cabinet Members should be listed in the appendix rather than naming individuals which would eliminate the need to change the Constitution every time the membership of the Cabinet changed. The Cabinet Member Corporate Services considered naming individuals was quite helpful and typically portfolios changed at the same time as individuals and therefore an update to the Constitution would still be necessary. He did not consider updating the Constitution was a big issue. In response to a question he acknowledged the omission of the risk of scores in the risk assessment and would ensure they were added.

The Mayor was very keen to open up the Council meeting to members of the public by enabling them to ask questions without the need for too many rules and regulations.  She indicated that she had brought this idea back from her visit to Göttingen in Germany and she had discussed it with the Chief Executive and had e-mailed Councillors Smith and Colin Hay asking them to consider it as members of the Constitution working group.

Councillor Jordan advised members that Gloucester City had been doing this for some time with a slot in their Council meeting for the public to ask questions without notification. He said there was a balance to be achieved as members may not be able to respond to unnotified questions and will only be able to supply a written response at a later date. The challenge with notified questions was to find the shortest possible time to allow for guaranteed answers to be prepared and set the deadline accordingly. This would be a reasonable matter for debate.

Another member suggested that the first challenge was to get more public attending the meeting and this could be achieved by more publicity and making the meeting more interesting.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services agreed that the Constitution working group would consider these ideas as part of their review of the procedural rules. He was in favour of encouraging the public to attend but the council was bound by process and must consider issues of cost when considering more publicity. For example many councils webcast their meetings but this was expensive and not something that the council could afford at this time.

Resolved unanimously that

1.      The Financial Rules set out at Appendix 1 be approved for implementation on 1^st April 2012.

2.      Authority be delegated to the Director of Resources, in consultation with the Chair of Audit Committee, to make any textual or other amendments to the Financial Rules approved under paragraph 1 above, which arise from further consideration by the GO partnership and which do not materially affect the approved Rules.

3.      Part 3 Responsibilities for Functions set out in Appendix 2 and the Corporate Policy Table in Appendix 3 be approved in principle subject to

a.      Leader/Cabinet approving the Executive Functions set out in Part 3E (Appendix 2).

b.     Consequential amendments to be approved by Council following further consideration by the Constitution Working Group.

4. The progress of the Overview and Scrutiny Review be noted and the timescales be agreed.